How I Use the Tarot

He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn't play for the money he wins
He doesn't play for respect

He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of a probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance

-- Sting, from "Shape of My Heart"

There are many, many different ways to use tarot cards.
In the popular imagination, they are primarily associated
with fortune-telling, a rather vague term that is not
actually very well suited to what goes on in a "reading"
with an experienced tarot reader. The tarot imagery,
however, is open-ended. It invites a variety of approaches.
My use of tarot cards falls into three very broad
categories: study, meditation, and divination.

Study

On a very basic level, I enjoy studying the cards. I
enjoy reading what others have done with them, what
interpretations they place on them, and what significance
they attach to them. I enjoy learning the story of the
history of the cards and the various speculative theories
regarding their origins. Beyond the books, though, I study
the cards themselves. This is perhaps a form of art
appreciation, but with an interesting twist, because the
images on tarot cards have a certain symbolic or mythic
quality to them. They have been described as archetypal. So
studying the cards themselves leads to interesting insights
on the nature of the human psyche. What do these images
suggest to me? What did they suggest to the artist? Do
they transcend culture? The major arcana cards, viewed
sequentially, seem to suggest a story to many people who
study them. Were the cards invented to depict such a story,
or is it our mind, thirsting for order in chaos, that weaves
a tale into which the images fit? If the latter, is this not
what we do to make sense of the events of life as well?

It is also fascinating to see how different artists have
reinterpretated the tarot themes. It is a bit like seeing a
hundred different depictions of the nativity. But with the
tarot, there are so many different conceptions that link the
cards with each other and with various mystical and
philosophical systems, that the possibilities are truly
vast. It is a fascinating mental exercise in understanding
how the general and the particular interact, and how human
creativity makes variations on a theme without entirely
losing the common thread.

All this amounts to a lively exercise that draws on the
analytical, esthetic, psychological, and imaginative
faculties of the mind. One of the reasons I find this
valuable is that I tend to compartmentalize these different
faculties, to the detriment of several of them. Studying
tarot engages all of them in a mutually constructive way.
That's valuable practice.

Meditation

To the extent that the tarot images depict subjects of
psychological or spiritual importance, they can be used
effectively as a focus for meditation. It is important in
this context to distinguish between what might be called the
"eastern" meaning of meditation, clearing the mind of
thoughts and feelings as preparation to receiving
enlightenment, and the "western" meaning, which is a sort of
directed daydream. This latter is also called visualization.
The idea is to focus on a particular image or scene until
one becomes quite absorbed and feels a sense of immediacy
and participation with the image. This process tends to
weaken one's conscious, matter-of-fact connection with the
physical environment, without entirely dissolving it. The
imagination (or perhaps the subconscious mind) is then less
inhibited, and offers up ideas that, under more ordinary
circumstances, might be "censored" by the mind before we
even become aware of them.

What does the "subconscious imagination" have to
offer? Well, sometimes, it has good suggestions and
valuable insights! But even when it seems to miss the
mark, I benefit simply from the process of getting
acquainted with it and appreciating its special qualities.
This is an avenue to self-knowledge that parallels and
complements direct analytical introspection.

The meditative experience also seems to be restorative.
Even when the content of the meditation is uncomfortable, I
tend to come away refreshed and centered, analogous to the
way the body feels after stretching exercises or
massage.

Divination

What is divination? The image that comes to mind is
perhaps that of a shaman casting sticks on the ground and
taking their arrangement as an omen of things to come. There
is a seduction in the possibility of being able to see into
the future in some way that is less ambiguous than our usual
style of speculating and extrapolating. I think that is a
false seduction; I don't believe the future is ever revealed
to us in that way--certainly not by drawing pieces of
cardboard from a deck! Nevertheless, I think divination does
something valuable, even if it is not quite the same thing
some people have hoped it can do.

When you study a "random" pattern--one you did not create
and could not have anticipated--and try to read its meaning,
you are forced to let go of some of your preconceptions and
predilections. Preconceptions and linear thinking are
excellent tools for testing and pruning ideas, but they are
not very good for obtaining brand new ideas. To get new
ideas, you need to practice a nonjudgmental openness, and
let the unexpected come in. One way to do this is to arrange
to have new ideas "delivered" to you randomly by, for
example, a shuffled deck of cards. If one develops a clear
understanding of the message of each tarot card in advance,
then pulling one from a shuffled deck amounts to an
invitation to consider that message in the context of the
question you are exploring. Will that message always be the
best possible message for you? No, of course not. You
go back to "rational" thinking to evaluate the message and
decide whether to act on it. But even if it is not the best
possible message, it is likely to be valuable, if for no
other reason than the fact that it is something new to
consider.

The Nobel laureate chemist Linus Pauling was once asked
how he came up with so many great ideas. His reply was that
he came up with an enormous number of ideas--poor,
mediocre, interesting, good, and great. With so many ideas
to choose from, some were bound to be great. Tarot
divination is a very good generator of ideas, some of which
are bound to pan out into an important insight.

On a more mystical level, "divination" implies
etymologically that one is reading the Mind of God. By
surrendering your preconceptions and leaving the question in
the hands of chance, you can find yourself drawn into a
state of mind that appreciates your own insignificance and
incompleteness. After some experience using the cards for
divination, I find I tend to look past my own immediate
focus and catch a sense of the larger ebb and flow of life.
The cards bring forth images of gain and loss, power and
impotence, joy and sorrow, round and round, over and over
again. Instead of being swept up and down by each ripple,
you can come to feel still and calm in the midst of the
motion.

The Real Tarot

In practice, these three uses often blend together and
fuse. I like that. The bottom line is that the cards are a
fascinating and rewarding way to take a little time out of
the day and focus on deeper matters. For me, it is not about
"fortune telling", superstition, or being anti-rational. It
is about deliberating using my esthetic, intellectual, and
contemplative faculties to view the patterns of life
holistically, intuitively, and spiritually. The goal is
improved self-knowledge and a deeper perspective.